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The economist points out that when we compare men and women without children the differences are not so great, but the convergence between the sexes stops with the arrival of a first child. It’s what it’s called in English child penaltythe penalty of the son. “According to the labor force survey, a third of women with children under five who work part-time would like to work more hours. And half of women with this type of contract with children between five and fifteen years too. There is an important part of this gap that could be closed,” argues Ruiz-Valenzuela. So what impact do measures such as maternity and paternity leave, the availability of pre-schools for early childhood or work flexibility policies have to achieve this?
Half of women with part-time contracts and children aged five to fifteen would like to work more hours
The first of the three articles is written by Pompeu Fabra Libertad González, a professor of economics at Universitat Pompeu, and examines how maternity leave shifted from focusing on protecting the health of the mother and child in the following months to the birth to evolve towards the idea that a leave that guarantees the return to the workplace can favor the labor participation of mothers. Currently, in Spain both parents can take 16 weeks of leave, of which the first six must be taken without interruption after the birth.
Gonzalez, however, argues that extending paid leave too long could also be harmful. “Prolonged maternity leaves could have the opposite effect, by delaying the return of mothers to the labor market, with negative effects on their career path, due to losses of human capital and experience”, analyzes the expert of the IEB. At the same time, González considers that the more extensive leaves can also cause companies to anticipate that their workers will spend a lot of time outside the workplace (in case of having children), and this can harm the hiring or promotion of women of the age of be mothers
The comparison with the Nordics
Your reflection may collide, when there are countries, such as Sweden, where this leave can be extended up to 480 days, that is to say, one year and almost four months that can be shared between the two parents. “Who ends up taking most of the leave is the mother. It is not shared equally: men take the exclusive three months for each member of the couple and the woman takes more than a year” , explains Ruiz-Valenzuela. Instead, he considers that the equal leave of the Spanish model introduces a “very important” element: the mandatory first six weeks. “Increasingly, parents are using drop-off fragmentation,” he says. A study by González and IAE-CSIC researcher Lídia Farré also suggested that paternity leaves can affect attitudes about children’s gender roles, as long as these leaves increase men’s involvement in household chores .
In Sweden, the leave can be extended up to 480 days, one year and almost four months, to be shared between the two parents
Farré is the author of the second article in this collection produced by the IEB, which focuses on the effect of free early childhood education from 0 to 3 years on the female labor market. In this area, the conclusion is that the impact of universal access to this service tends to be positive on mothers and children from families with fewer resources, but is more moderate among more affluent families. Farré argues that increasing the availability and affordability of education during early childhood can have important redistributive effects, since it facilitates the incorporation into the labor market of families with lower incomes.
The last article is from the professor at Madrid’s CUNEF university, Claudia Hupkau, who analyzes the impact of labor flexibility policies on women’s careers. The academic observes that part-time work, a measure adopted by the majority by women, can be counterproductive. A study shows that, after its introduction in Spain in 1999, the probability that women of childbearing age were hired was reduced by 49% and that of being promoted fell by 37%. On the other hand, the options of being fired rose by 40%.
